LG plans to withdraw from the smartphone market. Faced with the collapse of its sales worldwide, the South Korean firm could choose to close part, if not all, of its mobile division.
On January 20, 2021, Yonhap News, a South Korean news agency, shared an internal memo received by LG employees. The memo was written by Bong-Seok Kwon, the current CEO of LG Electronics, and suggests that the group is exploring the idea of burying its mobile business.
“LG Electronics has reached the point where it is time to make the best choice by calmly judging its current and future competitiveness in the mobile sector,” explains Bong-Seok Kwon. Faced with competition from Chinese brands such as Huawei, OnePlus or Xiaomi, LG’s mobile arm is struggling to woo buyers and keep its head above water.
On the same subject: here is the LG Rollable, a new smartphone with a rollable screen
The end of LG smartphones?
In the space of five years, LG’s smartphone division has lost up to 3.743 billion euros. In 2015, however, LG still held 15.4% of the smartphone market. By the end of 2020, the brand’s market share worldwide does not exceed 3%. In France, LG has not been present in the mobile phone market since the beginning of 2019, almost two years. At the time, the French branch explained that it wanted to “take a break” in order to‘come back stronger’ when deploying 5G.
Aware of its shortcomings, LG wonders about the future of its mobile division. “Currently, all possibilities are open and the direction of the company’s operations is carefully reviewed,” warns Bong-Seok Kwon in his internal memo. Interviewed by our colleagues at Android Authority, a spokesperson for LG confirms the veracity of the memo and states that “nothing has yet been decided on the future of our mobile company, but management is keeping an open mind.
In any case, this is not the first time that LG has hesitated to withdraw from the mobile phone market. As far back as 2012, LG admitted that it was considering leaving the telephony sector behind to focus more on televisions. We’ll tell you more as soon as possible. While you’re waiting for more information on LG’s defection, please comment in the comments below.
Source: Android Authority
